Liberal penned opinions on Obamacare, bourbon

10:03 PM,
Jul. 14, 2013

Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno talks with Judge Boyce Martin Jr. in 2002.

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In 34 years as a federal appeals court judge, Boyce F. Martin Jr. of Louisville wrote more than 1,500 opinions, including the nation's first appellate decision affirming what is known as Obamacare and another landmark ruling allowing law schools to consider race in admissions.

He livened his opinions with quotations from Homer Simpson and footnotes citing singer John Prine. And he began a ruling to uphold Maker's Mark's rights to its traditional red wax seal with a six-page discourse on the history of bourbon.

"All bourbon is whiskey," he wrote, "but not all whiskey is bourbon." ...